By Dominic Lau
LONDON, April 8 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index fell
by mid-session on Tuesday after hitting a five-week closing high
in the previous session, as lingering concerns over the credit
crisis weighed on banks and miners tracked metal prices lower.
By 1030 GMT, the FTSE 100 <> was down 55.7 points or
0.9 percent at 5,959.1, after closing above the psychologically
key 6,000-mark on Monday for the first time since Feb. 17.
The UK benchmark index has risen 4.5 percent so far this
month, but is still down 7.7 percent for the year.
"We had a flat performance on Wall Street combined with
disappointed results from Alcoa and ADM overnight," said Keith
Bowman, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
"Adding to that, we've got house price details out today.
That also weighs on the banking sector. Adding those two factors
together, you have a market on the downside for the time being."
British house prices fell in March at their sharpest pace
since the recession of the early 1990s, according to Halifax,
the country's largest mortgage lender, raising expectations for
a cut in interest rates this week.
Banks fell, shaving 18 points off the index, also weighed
down by comments from the chief executive of French bank BNP
Paribas <BNPP.PA>, who said worsening market volatility would
make it difficult to meet the company's goal of matching last
year's revenues.
Barclays <BARC.L>, Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L>, HSBC
<HSBA.L>, HBOS <HBOS.L>, Lloyds TSB <LLOY.L> and Standard
Chartered <STAN.L> were down between 0.9 and 3.5 percent.
Housebuilder Persimmon <PSN.L> topped the FTSE 100 losers,
off 3.6 percent, while mid-caps Taylor Wimpey <TW.L> and Barratt
Developments <BDEV.L> both fell around 4.5 percent.
European stocks were also down by midday, while U.S. stock
futures fell pointing to a weaker opening on Wall Street and
Asian shares sagged overnight.
Miners suffered because of weaker metal prices and after
U.S. aluminium producer Alcoa <AA.N> said its first-quarter
profit halved from a year ago because of energy costs and a weak
dollar.
Lonmin <LMI.L> fell 3.1 percent, Xstrata <XTA.L> shed 1.9
percent, Vedanta Resources <VED.L> dropped 2.1 percent,
Kazakhmys <KAZ.L> slipped 2.2 percent, Rio Tinto <RIO.L> lost
2.3 percent and BHP Billiton <BLT.L> eased 2.4 percent.
Investors will keep an eye on the minutes of the U.S.
Federal Reserve's last meeting when it cut rates to 2.25 percent
from 3.0 percent.
EARNINGS DOWNGRADE
ING Investment Management said the downturn in corporate
earnings could last 12-18 months and stock markets were likely
to trade sideways and remain volatile in coming months.
AstraZeneca <AZN.L> was down 2.4 percent after Goldman Sachs
downgraded its rating on the drugmaker to "neutral" from "buy".
The stock gained 14 percent last week after positive news about
its Crestor drug and brokerage upgrades.
Tate & Lyle <TATE.L> lost 2.5 percent after Credit Suisse
downgraded its rating on the sugar maker to "neutral" from
"outperform".
Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) <SSE.L> slipped 1.3 percent
after Britain's energy regulator said it had launched an
investigation into SSE and Scottish Power <IBE.MC> following a
complaint alleging abuse of dominant market positions.
Food producers Unilever <ULVR.L> and Cadbury Schweppes
<CBRY.L> gained 1.8 and 0.9 percent respectively. Traders said
they benefitted from investors switching out of banks and
miners.
BT Group <BT.L> advanced 1.2 percent after Britain's biggest
fixed-line telecoms provider said it was promoting retail
business head Ian Livingston to succeed Ben Verwaayen as chief
executive.
(Additional reporting by Peter Starck; editing by Rory
Channing)
